How common is bad RAM?

[RegEdit]

How often do you encounter bad RAM chips? To put it in perspective, also note how many machines you work on per month.

 

[stro]

Maybe one to two a month out of 200-300 machines that come in. While reseats are common, actual bad sticks are rare. And when it is bad ram , I would say 60 percent of the time it is not the original memory that is bad but the newer memory that was added at a later date. And the bad ram is almost always either from BB or the cheapy brands that newegg sells.

 

[Vicenarian]

bad...very bad




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[jamston]

That ram looks very bad, but thankfully not very common.

 

[16k_zx81]

Rare.

Most machines that have worn out component its the hard disk.

Jim

 

[Techlogon]

Out of 50+ machines a month only about 1 stick a year is bad.

For me, in order from most rare to most common: CPU, RAM, Graphics, mobo, PSU, hard drive.

The newer the hard drive the less time it seems to last - lucky to get 2 years on modern lappies, but considering the way some are treated it's maybe not surprising

 

[Cambridge PC Support]

The newer the hard drive the less time it seems to last - lucky to get 2 years on modern lappies, but considering the way some are treated it's maybe not surprising

Maybe because laptops are so much cheaper now and so people don't treat them as carefully as they would if they were more expensive.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

And when it is bad ram , I would say 60 percent of the time it is not the original memory that is bad but the newer memory that was added at a later date. And the bad ram is almost always ...cheapy brands.

I'm in agreement with what you say....I'd say more often it's not "bad memory"...but it's "incompatible memory"...due to some cheapie tech/shops that just grab "any old stick of memory that appears to be the correct speed"..and slam it in there.

We do Crucial memory for 99% of our stuff...and we use their memory selection guide to select the exact part number that they have tested/approved to work in the exact make/model system we're working on.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

This is my 390 horsepower HEMI 1500 "Good RAM" I can deliver those servers in a hurry!

 

[ArtemusComputerTechnology]

Not too common coming in my shop.

 

[nlinecomputers]

Very rare. I work on about 30 PCs in a month. Haven't seen a bad memory stick in a couple of years. I see Bad PSUs the most in Desktops and Bad HDDs in laptops the most. Bad HDDs are second place in desktops but that is a photo finish.

 

[cypress]

Rare in my case as well, only 2 of the machines that I have worked on out of the 50+

 

[Martyn]

Very rare, 2 bad ram modules in the last 2 years.

 

[rudger]

Looking back I have only had 1 bad stick of ram in the last 2 1/2 years, from my experience I would say it is the item least likely to fail on a desktop.

 

[PCX]

Between 100 to 150 a month, maybe 1 or 2 bad sticks of memory.

 

[NETWizz]

I had a computer I did a work-order on (because the guys that work helpdesk and in the field were out...) and I mis-diagnosed at first.

It is at work, so there are no fees... they just work for the same employer.


1. Employee calls in indicating computer won't boot and has "Blue Screen" with
"Computer Language on it" <== I instantly assumed BSOD... but it was NOT!

2. I asked what the BSOD said on it and the employee indicated "File System Consistency Check..." and a bazillion files flying past the screen to which I basically said, "well okay.... just wait it out... did the computer start-up?" <=NO

3. Okay, so there was a REBOOT loop where it would re-check the file-system every damn time. <==I presumed it is PROBABLY a bad hard drive... time to confirm diagnosis:

4. Had employee reboot system and tap Ctrl-Alt-D (it is a Dell and this runs the built in Hard Drive Diagnostics)... to my Surprise "PASS" <==Hugh!

5. [Site is 40 miles away, and I don't want to go out there... and it says it PASSed]... SO ==> Treatment: Let's remotely re-image the computer!

6. Tap F12 when it boots and select "On Board Network Controller, Integrated Network Adapter, Integrated NIC, or whatever it similar"

Employee: Says Windows is starting Setup...
Me: Yeah, you will get a menu with only one option on it... just click "Next" and that is all you have to do.
Employee: Okay, it is working 1%, 2%...
Me: Okay, great. Just leave it alone for half an hour or so. It will reboot several times, install software, join the domain, etc.

7. About an hour later I look in Active Directory to see if it re-joined... NOPE <==****... Calls customer back to see they didn't do something stupid like turn it off.

8. Customer reports "SAME PROBLEM" Corrupt files scrolling on screen... Reboot Loop, etc.

9. I grab another SATA HDD and slam it into a computer and drop our Universal XP image on it with WDS... Decide I am going to play tech hero and drive out on site... slap in the new drive and let it `Rock and Roll` all in 15 minutes... it will be a quick IN/OUT visit.

10. Get there and slap in new drive... "Same ****" <==Dammit! Obviously a bad Motherboard, or RAM in this Dell GX620.

11. Burn copy of MemTest86+ and boot to it. TONS OF ERRORS INSTANTLY

12. Remove two sticks of RAM (and repeat)... TONS OF ERRORS INSTANTLY

13. Remove one stick of RAM (leaving one)... no errors ran it for like 30 seconds!!

14. Switch to other stick... TONS OF ERRORS *Breaks stick in half and throw in trash*

15. Test remaining 3 slots about 30 seconds each in MemTest86+... NO Issues

16. Test remaining 2 sticks of ram about 30 seconds each... NO Issues

17. Set computer up with 2 x 512 MB (vs the 4x 512 MB it had before)... in Dual Channel (of course)...

18. Swap back to other HDD that was in computer before and try to boot it... Missing or corrupt NTFS.sys or something like that.

19. CTRL-ALT-D to re-test the HDD to make sure it IS actually good and not a false PASS... it PASSed again.

20. Re-Imaged the damned thing one more time. <== Took about 10 minutes to image and 15 to install software, policies, etc...

21. Installed printer on desktop and left.

[total time on-site 1 hour vs the 10 minutes I had plan]

Bottom Line: This was a mis-diagnosis presenting itself as a bad Hard Drive (similar symptoms), but THIS WAS bad RAM


HAD I NOT REMOTELY HAD THE USER RE-IMAGE THE COMPUTER, IT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE WORKED AS SOON AS THE BAD RAM WAS REMOVED!

 

[JW The Computer Guy]

Not very common here, again the only ones that do go bad are cheap stuff.

Also,

bad...very bad




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[Maniaman]

Of the last 500 tickets we've had less than 5 had bad sticks of RAM. Reseats are common enough that they aren't always noted in the tickets.

 

[tim fitzgerald]

Had one today, an old Dell Dimension 4600c desktop. Client wanted it to run fast like when it was new. Doubt very much it was fast to begin with having 250mb of ram. Any way did all the usual cleaning up, defraging and the rest. Then did a test of the30gb HDD. It was just fine (but small). Then tested the ram with Memtest. Sure enough it was bad. Replaced the 250mb ram with a Crucial two stick upgrade of 2gb. Its no Cray but it's right jumpy now. They are pleased and I made some money. I see a surprising amount of ram problems. However it's not the most common problem. I make it a point to check because the one time you don't is the time Ram is the problem. Shortcuts are always a bad idea.

 

[webcam]

when learning about computers, you are told to look out for bad memory, but it not a common issue, not sure about the newer ddr3